Created in 2008 at Goteborg Film Festival, Nordic Film Lab is a forum for talented filmmakers at the starting point of their career. Producers, scribes and helmers from Denmark, Norway and Sweden get together for recurring discussions about filmmaking, creativity and each other’s projects.

On Friday, the ten 2013 selected participants presented themselves and their upcoming projects to the industry at Nordic Film Lab Discovery. A majority of them seemed to treat the topic of identities and being split between different cultures, persecuted or not.
Here follows a description of some of the projects.

“The Way Back” is in early development by director-actress Iram Haq, whose feature debut “I Am Yours” is Norway’s Oscar contribution and also competing for the Dragon Award at Goteborg. “The Way Back” is based on Iram Haq’s own life, as a Norwegian-Pakistani girl. Haq will write the script this spring and plans the shoot to take place in India.

“Waitz” is in early development by Norwegian producer Elisabeth Kvithyll at Oslo based Hummelfilm. “Waitz” is planned to be a fictional film based on the experiences of the Norwegian long distance-runner Grete Waitz, the former world record holder who won nine New York Marathons between 1978-88.

Related

“It’s more a sports film than a biopic,” said Elisabeth Kvithyll, “about one of the highest profiled women in sports history, an ordinary who does the extraordinary. She was not only the first woman who was allowed to run, she created a whole lifestyle for runners and fitness enthusiasts worldwide, and she was very big in America,” said Elisabeth Kvithyll, who won an Amanda Award for Best Short for her graduation pic, “To Guard a Mountain.”

“Flee” is an animation documentary by Danish helmer Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Judging from the images presented at Discovery it is likely inspired by Ari Folman’s “Waltz with Bahsir.” The autobiographical story is about an Afghan immigrant who mysteriously showed up at the Danish countryside at the age of 11. Rasmussen’s first feature “Searching for Bill” was selected at Goteborg last year.

“My Skinny Sister” is a feature film in progress by Annika Rogell, Swedish producer of Goran Hugo Olsson’s successful docus “The Black Power Mixtape” and “Concerning Violence” (Sundance 2014). Sanna Lenken will direct the pic inspired by her short “Eating Lunch” (Berlin, Tribeca), about eating disorder.

“Sanna had it herself as a child, but this is going to be based on her little sister’s perspective, why you choose to starve yourself? We’re not going to do it in a heavy way, but in comical way,” said Annika Rogell. “My Skinny Sister” will be coproduced by German Junafilm, whose “Nothing Bad Can Happen” was selected in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year.

Sign Up for Daily Insider Newsletter

Stars party all around Hollywood before, during, and after the Oscars. Here, Variety hits the town to give you the inside scoop on all the star-studded soirées. Keep checking back throughout the weekend for the latest updates… Variety x Armani Beauty Makeup Artistry Dinner Sunset Tower, Los Angeles, Feb. 20Variety and Giorgio Armani Beauty honored makeup artists Molly [...]

“Monty Python’s Life of Brian” is heading back into movie theaters to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the classic comedy film. Trafalgar Releasing took the rights to the film last year. The event cinema specialist is planning a 400-screen release on April 18 that will span the U.K. and U.S. as well as territories [...]

Cohen Media Group has acquired U.S. rights to Safy Nebbou’s “Who You Think I Am,” the critically acclaimed film starring Juliette Binoche which world premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Special Gala section. “Who You Think I Am” turned out to be a hot title among international distributors at the EFM and was sold throughout [...]

Yeun Seung-ro has been appointed as CEO of CGV Mars Entertainment, the Korean-owned company that operates Turkey’s largest cinema chain. He replaces Kwak Dong Won, another veteran of the CJ-CGV group. The change of personnel may reflect two ongoing battles within the Turkish film industry. CJ-CGV, which bought Mars for some $650 million in 2016. [...]

MADRID — Woody Allen is re-teaming with Spain’s Mediapro, one of Europe’s biggest independent film-TV companies, to develop his next film with an eye it seems to shooting in Spain. Mediapro co-financed and co-produced two of Allen’s highest-grossing movies, 2008’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” which grossed $96.4 million worldwide, and 2011’s “Midnight in Paris” which earned [...]

When mouthwatering Indonesian cuisine and romance are on the table, “Aruna & Her Palate” is a bouncy crowd-pleaser. Less tasty is the backdrop of a suspected bird flu outbreak that brings a food-loving epidemiologist into contact with her secret crush. Adapted from Laksmi Pamuntjak’s 2014 novel “The Bird Woman’s Palate,” “Aruna” manages to overcome its [...]